My beginning of term shopping list…

Moving to uni is a big thing. Packing up all your stuff and deciding what to bring and what to leave at home is hard! One thing that I think a lot of people don’t think about, before they end up in a supermarket on their first day in their new city, is what food to buy at the start of the term. So I thought I might share my beginning of term shopping list to give you a few ideas.

** By the way I don’t eat meat so there will be a distinct lack of that on here!**

My daily essentials:

• Milk (I usually get the smallest size so I can use it up before it goes off)
• Wholemeal bread
• Peanut butter (I have peanut butter on toast for breakfast)
• Tea
• Coffee

Things for making lunches:

• Wraps (let me just pause to have a moan – it really annoys me that these come in packs of 8 not 10 which doesn’t make it easy to take two per lunch for 5 days!!)
• Cheese
• Other fillings (whatever is your favourite – I usually have some form of chutney or pickle and maybe some salad).
• Crisps (multipacks are way cheaper than buying single packs at uni)
• Cereal bars or some other more healthy snack.
• Fruit

Things for making dinners/ store cupboard items (try to plan a mix of fresh and frozen foods so one shop can last longer):

• Tortellini (This is a really quick dinner – a pack has enough for two meals and it can be frozen)
• Fresh veg (I usually go for broccoli, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms)
• Potatoes
• Frozen pizza (to keep in for a quick meal – it’s my standard pre social dinner on a Wednesday before LetsDisko)
• Tinned tomatoes (Really useful in loads of recipes)
• Baked beans
• Kidney beans (for chilli – this uses tinned tomatoes too)
• Rice
• Pasta
• Couscous (this is great for a salad with halloumi, or for making stuffed peppers and loads of other things!)
• Halloumi (always great lets be honest and it lasts for months unopened in the fridge)
• Some jarred sauces (for pastas, currys, etc.)
• Pesto (I use this in pasta sauces and couscous)
• Stock (useful for nearly everything!!)
• Oil (for cooking)
• Spices and herbs (to jazz up your meals – chilli powder, cinnamon, smoked paprika, dried basil and dried mixed herbs are a good place to start)

Snacking:

• Carrots and humous
• Some nice crisps
• Always have a bit of chocolate for a rainy day
• And some hot chocolate whilst you’re there!!

This is pretty much my standard shop to stock up my cupboards and then I just buy the fresh stuff every week or so! I think doing a big shop every month or so (you can get it delivered) really saves a lot of money and time!

I just wanted to add one final point (as you may know I’m quite anti plastic), please, please, please avoid plastic whilst shopping where you can!! Even if that just means you don’t take that extra plastic bag in the veg aisle to put your pepper in.

B x